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BOSTON -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned retailers about a type of malicious software attacking point-of-sales systems, dubbed "Backoff," that it said is undetectable by most types of antivirus software.

The agency released a 10-page advisory about the payment-card-stealing virus Backoff on Thursday, saying it has been observed in at least three forensic investigations into breaches of payment systems.

The U.S. government has released reports on several types of malicious software that cybercriminals used to steal payment cards in the wake of last year's unprecedented breach at Target (TGT), which resulted in the theft of some 40 million payment card numbers.

Backoff is a family-of-point of sale malware first identified in October 2013 and with capabilities that include scraping memory for track data, logging keystrokes and injecting malicious stub into explorer.exe files, DHS said.

It said attackers use publicly available tools to find businesses that use remote desktop applications, then gain access to an administrative account to insert the malware.

The DHS advisory warned that such malware put both the business and consumer at risk, exposing data including names, credit card numbers, email addresses, mailing address and phone numbers.

"These breaches can impact a business' brand and reputation, while consumers' information can be used to make fraudulent purchases or risk compromise of bank accounts," it said.

One reason why Marquis' gas purchases might have triggered a fraud lockdown? Filling their tank is a common first move for credit card thieves.

"Some of the things they look at are small-dollar transactions at gas stations, followed by an attempt to make a larger purchase," explains Adam Levin of Identity Theft 911.

The idea is that thieves want to confirm that the card actually works before going on a buying spree, so they'll make a small purchase that wouldn't catch the attention of the cardholder. Popular methods include buying gas or making a small donation to charity, so banks have started scrutinizing those transactions.

Of course, it's not a simple matter of buying gas or giving to charity -- if those tasks triggered alerts constantly, no one would do either with a credit card. But Levin points to another possible explanation: Purchases made in a high-crime area are going to be held to a higher standard by the bank.

"It's almost a form of redlining," he says. "If there are certain [neighborhoods] where they've experienced an enormous amount of fraud, then anytime they see a transaction in the neighborhood, it sends an alert."

(Indeed, Erin tells me that one of the gas purchases that triggered an alert took place in a rough part of Detroit, which she visited specifically for the cheap gas.)

People who steal credit cards and credit card numbers usually aren't doing it so they can outfit their home with electronics and appliances. They don't want the actual products they're fraudulently buying; they're just in it to make money. So banks are always on the lookout for purchases of items that can easily be re-sold.

"Anytime a product can be turned around quickly for cash value, those are going to be the items that you would probably assume that, if you were a thief, you would want to get to first," says Karisse Hendrick of the Merchant Risk Council, which helps online merchants cut down on fraud. Levin says electronics are common choices for fraudsters, as are precious metals and jewelry.

Many thieves don't want to go through the rigmarole of buying laptops and jewelry, then selling them online or at pawnshops. They'd much prefer to just turn your stolen card directly into cold, hard cash.

There are a few ways that they can do that, and all of them will raise red flags at your bank or credit union. Using a credit card to buy a pricey gift card or load a bunch of money on a prepaid debit card is a fast way to attract the suspicions of your credit card issuer. Levin adds that some identity thieves also use stolen or cloned credit cards to buy chips at a casino, which they can then cash out (or, if they're feeling lucky, gamble away).

When assessing whether a purchase might be fraudulent, banks aren't just looking at what you bought and where you bought it. They're also asking if it's something you usually buy.

"The issuers know the buying patterns of a cardholder," says Hendrick. "They know the typical dollar amount of transaction and the type of purchase they put on a credit card."

Your bank sees a fairly high percentage of your purchases, so it knows if one is out of character for you. A thrifty individual who suddenly drops $500 on designer clothes should expect to get a call -- or have to make one when the bank flags the transaction. If you rarely travel and your card is suddenly used to purchase a flight to Europe, that's going to raise some red flags.

Speaking of Europe, the other big factor in banks' risk equations is whether you're making a purchase in a new area. I bought a computer just days after moving from Boston to New York, and had to confirm to the bank that I was indeed trying to make the purchase. Levin likewise says that making purchases in two different cities over a short period of time raises suspicions.

"I go from New York to California a lot, and invariably someone will call me [from the bank], " he says. Since one person can't go shopping in New York and California at the same time, any time a bank sees multiple purchases in multiple locations in a short period, it's going to be suspicious.

ed snowden exposed the muslim clowns spying on all Americans n his obsting n sabotaging n holding all Americans hostage for the last 5 plus years now. !!! remove the muslim clown out of our white house in handcuffs in 2014 n deport him n all hi illegal immigrants he let "BREAK" into America. !!!

Maybe your right then again maybe there are just a lot of geeeky crooks taking advantage of coding skills. Too many people have access to other peoples info. There are teens hacking into government and corporate computers so immagine what some geek with years of experience can do. Tech has gotten out of control, cost a lot of people their jobs, and now foreign nationals are picking through your personal data.

Gee an none of these imported tech workers are involved or had any knowledge of whose making this software? I think your kidding yourself if you think people getting these work visas in tech aren't involved in these data skimming software crimes.